Nehemiah 7:65. And the Tirshatha said unto them.
This was the title of the Persian governor of Judea. Gesenius derives the word from the Persian torsh: “severe,” “austere,” which would make the meaning equivalent to your Severity. He compares it with the German gestrenger Herr, (that is, your “Worship”; but, literally, Severe Master,) a title which was formerly given to the magistrates of the free and imperial German cities. The English have a corresponding expression: “most dread Sovereign.”
See also Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:70; 8:9; 10:1.